3.
He accepted it. No point in denial, acceptance always came eventually, and he thought he could do without the anger part. Jack was trapped in a parallel dimension with Mickey Mouse and a load of fantasy fighters. He also accepted that Ann was not in a coma. She was without a heart. The thing that had attacked her must have been a Heartless. Mickey explained that when they attack, Heartless take peoples hearts, their essence, leaving an empty shell of body and personality. What's left behind is another Heartless creature and a Nobody: a being without a heart. Mickey told Jack that in order to get Ann back, he would have to find her heart and rejoin it with her Nobody. Nobody's where found in the World That Never Was; a city in perpetual night created by darkness. He also said that Ann's Nobody most likely had a different personality to the Ann Jack knew.
Jack spent the next two weeks at Merlin's house, learning all he could. Another guy showed up, Cloud, but he hardly ever spoke. When he did, it was only a word or two, and they where mostly reserved for Leon. King Mickey left the same day he arrived, without a word he just left. The others didn't notice.
By helping out rebuilding the local castle that had been destroyed, Jack had amassed enough money to buy a sword. Everyone in the town carried some sort of weapon, and with good reason; the Heartless where everywhere. Jack had gotten jumped more than once by the black smoky beings. Around the corner from Merlin's house was a small shopping square. With fore shops. An armour shop, a blacksmith and an "accessory" shop, which sold various items. He entered the armour shop and was greeted by one of the villagers. After going through everything from robes to chain-mail, Jack bought a pair of black boots, a side cloak, like the one Cloud always had, and a black leather glove adorned with metal plates and claws. His biggest challenge came at the blacksmiths. The range of weapons was incredible. The shop owner showed Jack anything that interested him, but for some reason seemed eager for him to look at a specific item of sale. It was a straight black sword, just longer than arms length and what Jack recognised as a handgun. The sword looked like a modern Japanese blade, matt black and deadly sharp. The hilt was bound in purple leather and the blade felt cold to the touch, despite the warm shop. The only thing separating the blade from the hilt was a curled spike that came away from the butting edge of the blade that would divert any other sword away from the user's hand. Other than that, there was no other protection; this sword was for a skilled user. The pistol was silver in colour and bared a striking resemblance to a weapon used by a videogame character. It was a customised Colt 1911 with shaped handgrips, a ten inch barrel and an engraved slide. The pistol came in a black leather holster that attached to the thigh.
"Why do you seem so keen to get rid of these weapons?" Jack asked the shop owner.
"Well…not many people…that is to say, no one wants them, and nor do I. These weapons aren't like anything else. They where found in the dark realm. The sword absorbs the hearts of anything it kills, strengthening the wielder, and the gun fires dark energy rounds. The sword can be summoned at will by the owner. They're dark things, no one fully knows what they can do, and I don't want them any longer." The owner said.
Jack remembered the voice from his dreams: "You may find help from both light and darkness…"
Jack bought them. No sooner had he grasped the hilt, he felt the blades dissolve and a wisp of soft black smoke absorbed into his hands. Jack belted on the holster and examined the pistol. It fit his hand perfectly, and although looked heavy, it was quite light. Jack left the shop and relieved owner, his cloak blowing in the wind.
Jack walked into Merlin's house, examining the metal plated glove he had bought. It fit perfectly, and the metal talons where sharp. Leon, Cid and another girl, Yuffi sat around a large computer. Cloud stood in the corner, arms crossed, deep in thought. When he saw Jack, a rare thing happened. He smiled.
"Copying my style huh?" He said, indicating the side cloak. "I used to have a glove just like that as well, come to think of it."
Jack shrugged.
"I didn't notice they where similar" Jack said. It was true, the cloaks where almost identical, except that Cloud's was black. Jack's was dark purple, like the night sky.
"So what did you get?" Leon asked, turning from the computer screen.
Jack pulled out his pistol and set it down on the table. Leon picked it up and examined it.
"This is quite a gun…high calibre, selective fire action, reinforced slide…the works." Leon said, turning the gun in his hands. Jack looked puzzled.
"Selective fire?" Jack asked. He didn't know much about guns, except from videogames.
Leon pointed to a small switch on the side of the gun. It was positioned so his thumb could easily press it.
"This gun can fire either one shot for every trigger pull, or a constant stream of rounds for however long the trigger is pressed. To fire a single round t you just pull the trigger. For full auto you have to hold down that latch and pull, that's why it's so easy to reach." Leon explained.
"It seems to fire energy based rounds, so chances are this thing has a charged shot function."
Jack understood what he was saying, but was still apprehensive. He had never fired a gun before. Shrugging, Jack flexed his hand, summoning the black sword. Leon jumped back in shock as the blade formed in a haze of black smoke in Jacks hands.
"Well, well, well… this is a surprise. I see you have a thing for dark weapons. That blade isn't something you can usually buy. In fact, it's one of a kind. That blade is the Nobody form of the Dark Keyblade, made from the hearts of princesses. When the Keyblade was destroyed, that blade remained. From what I can gather, it seems to exist to serve the wielder, not a specific purpose like the Dark Keyblade. All I can say is be careful with it. No one knows what it can do. From the look of it, you can augment it with key-chains like the Keyblade." Jack looked at the hilt of the sword, and sure enough, a small hole in the metal was present for some sort of attachment.
"Leon, I have a little problem…" Jack said, dismissing the sword. "I can use a sword to a limited extent, but I've never used a gun before, let alone both."
Leon smiled, flicking his hair out of his face.
"Cloud, grab your sword. Jack needs a little training."
The training consisted of three parts. Leon instructed him in using the pistol, which turned out to fire dark matter blasts, with ammunition taken from the Heartless it destroyed, Cloud instructed him on various sword fighting styles, and then Leon came in and helped out in using both weapons at once. It was pretty much a unique fighting style. "You'll just have to go with your instinct" Cloud had said.
They trained behind the large castle, on a flat piece of ground. Leon set up wooden poles for Jack to fire at while Cloud drew out a large circle in the ground with his sword.
Jack stood in front of a wooden pole, and gripped the pistol in his left hand, as Leon had instructed him to. The pistol was very light, despite its size, and felt very stable. He fired at the pole. The gun gave a light kick and a flack of black light erupted from the muzzle as the slide shot back and forth again. The wood pole shook at the projectile hit home, making little more than a dent in the food. Jack looked at the pistol, confused. Leon smiled as he caught on.
"Don't worry, its probably not been used in a while. Its power will be down until it absorbs fresh darkness, which is good for us, in terms of practice."
Jack fired again. It was actually very easy. Rather than aim, he just pointed and the rounds went where he wanted them to go. It made for very quick shooting, even more so when he switched to automatic.
The day passed by in a flurry of shots, blocks, lunges and swipes. As the sun went down, Jack prepared for the final test, devised by Cloud. He stood with his pistol holstered and without his sword. Leon and Cloud stood opposite him. They bowed and the two older teen raised their swords; one impossibly large and brutal, one graceful with a hidden trick.
Jack watched as Cloud moved around one side, sword raised, and Leon held back, waiting to rush in. Cloud darted in towards Jack, blade raised high. Jack moved, bringing his arm up to intercept the incoming bodily amputation. The black blade materialised in a heartbeat, clashing with the silver Buster. Leon darted in, Just as Jack knew he would, blade held behind his trailing side, ready for an uppercut. Jack flicked his blade, using the built up tension between the swords to propel himself over Clouds head. The Buster sword crashed into the ground as Jack landed on his knee. Suddenly, the Gunblade was bearing down on him. Jack parried the strike, sweeping his foot out to get some space between himself and Leon. Back on his feet, Cloud swung his sword, nearly taking Jacks head off. Jack ducked just in time, reaching for his gun. Jumping back from the older teens, Jack caught his breath. There was something intoxicatingly addictive about this form of fighting. He was enjoying it.
Leon jumped high into the air, aiming his blade at Jacks skull. At the same moment, Cloud hurled his sword like a spear. Jack watch as, in one eye, a blade descended form the sky, and in the other, a blade streaked towards him. He acted. Bringing his sword up across his body in a sweeping motion, he fell to one side, twisting onto his back. With a clang and flash of sparks, Jacks sword deflected Clouds incoming Buster. Bringing his gun around, Jack fired a stream of rounds at the falling silver streak. A yelp of pain. The Gunblade fell point first into the ground beside Jack. Its owner hit the ground, clutching his hand. Jack got up, replaced his gun and pulled the Gunblade form the ground. Cloud knelt beside Leon, looking over his wound.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked, worriedly.
Leon caught his breath before looking up at the younger teen.
"You shot it right out of my hand while deflecting a blow that would cripple a tank…how did you do that?" Leon asked, looking bewildered.
"I…I just did." Jack stammered, realising what had happened. Cloud, having recovered his sword, looked down at Jack.
"Let's go. There's noting more Leon or I can teach you."